kravietz 🦇Text by Anton Geraschenko:
On 16 November 2024 #Russia #Gazprom stopped gas supplies to #Austria. Austria’s close cooperation in gas imports, which had existed since 1968, first with the USSR and then with Russia, came to an abrupt halt within 3 days.
How and why did it happen? On November 14, Austrian company OMV won an arbitration against Gazprom for $242 million (excluding interest and court costs). The lawsuit was filed because of irregular gas supplies and their complete cessation in September 2022, when the Kremlin hoped to freeze Europe.
Vienna realized that Gazprom would not pay and decided to immediately claim this amount through the existing contract. In other words, instead of transferring regular monthly payments for gas supplied to Gazprom, OMV planned to withhold them until the amount awarded by the court was reached.
On October 15, OMV received a letter from Gazprom Export (a subsidiary of Gazprom) stating that natural gas supplies under the existing contract would be stopped completely.
On November 16, Gazprom cut off gas supplies to Austria, its oldest and largest EU customer among those remaining. However, Vienna turned out to be ready, diversifying gas supplies with the help of non-Russian sources.
Moreover, it actually pushed Moscow toward such a scenario. Chancellor Karl Nehammer noted that what had happened was “what we have been preparing for since the beginning of the war in Ukraine” and assured that gas storage facilities were full and “no one will freeze this winter, no home will be cold.”
“We will not be blackmailed by anyone, not even by the Russian president. We will not be brought to our knees by Putin’s government, by Putin himself,” he declared.
Minister for Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology Leonore Gewessler made a similar statement.
“The actions of Gazprom today prove once again that Russia is not a partner. But tomorrow also marks the end of a risk. If we no longer receive supplies from Russia, we can no longer be blackmailed,” she wrote.
And most importantly. By stopping gas supplies to Austria, Gazprom has thus violated the terms of the contract, valid until 2040. And, by doing so, it gave Austria a formal pretext for an early and legally clean exit from the contract, thereby getting rid of their gas dependence on Russia. And thus depriving the Kremlin of part of the gas revenues used for the war. Putin has “outplayed” everyone once again.
I don’t think even this sad incident will make Austria finally ban Russian espionage, for which Vienna was always known and friendly place - but who knows 😂
NeonPurpleStar :heart_bi:
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